


Seven and a half

by haught4kindness



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Childhood, EFA Fic Challenge 2020, Gen, Young Waverly Earp, at least I think it's cannon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:34:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25781419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haught4kindness/pseuds/haught4kindness
Summary: "You see, childhood isn't easy for anyone, and the people your great-great-grandfather killed coming back from hell as revenants aren't the only demons you face as a kid. Not when you must go to school, too."
Comments: 5
Kudos: 32





	Seven and a half

**Author's Note:**

> This is the very first fanfic that I post and the first thing I've written in forever, so please be gentle in the comments, lovely Earpers.  
> It's probably not my best work but I really wanted to give it a shot and when I read the prompt for the EFA Challenge I just saw little Waverly hugging Uncle Curtis in front of his tomato plants and boom! Here I am 2k words later.
> 
> Anything you want to tell me you have the comments and my twitter handle is @haught4kindness. Enjoy :)

Waverly Earp wasn't having a normal childhood, that was for sure. She wasn't having the happiest childhood either, but she had always been a positive, smiley kid, no matter how many punches life threw at her. And it threw quite a lot her way.

That doesn't mean she didn't get upset, scared, or frustrated from time to time. Growing up isn't easy for anyone, much less if your mom abandons you, your dad and bigger sister are murdered by demons and the sister you have left is treated like a crazy person for talking about said demons.

Waverly knew demons were real. She had nightmares featuring them often but wouldn't dare to tell anyone, afraid that she'd be deemed crazy as well. She had tried telling Wynonna about her nightmares once, but that didn't work out for her.

“Nonna,” she said one night she couldn't fall asleep, “are you awake?”  
“What is it, kid?”  
“I can't sleep. I'm scared.” Hearing that, Wynonna got down from the top bunk immediately to see what was happening with her sister. 

Wynonna was a very caring sister towards Waverly, you see, but that doesn't mean she didn't have struggles and demons of her own. She had to act all tough in front of everyone else, pretend she wasn't scarred for life after killing her dad, and seeing actual, real-life demons take her big sister from their home to kill her as well.

She had a soft spot for her little sister, but it's difficult to help others when you're alone and no one seems to support you. They say you can't pour from an empty glass, but Wynonna surely tried for her little sister. Although, sometimes it was just too much.

“What's wrong, babygirl? What are you scared of?” she asked laying down beside her sister and pulling her into a hug.  
“The bad guys” Waverly confessed, clinging to her big sister, almost in tears.  
Wynonna felt a lump form in her throat but tried to remain calm. “What bad guys, Waves? There’re no bad guys here, it's just the two of us. And Uncle Curtis and Aunt Gus. No bad guys to worry about.”  
“But, Nonna, there's bad guys. Don't you remember...?”  
“Waverly!” her sister snapped, pushing her to the side and getting up. “There's no bad guys. Stop it.”  
Waverly sat up in her bed, tears now flowing freely across her cheeks. “Yes, there are demons that killed Daddy and Willa, you saw them, you were there!”  
“The demons didn't kill Daddy, I killed Daddy! So, stop it.”  
“But, the demons...”  
“Shut up!” Wynonna was frustrated and annoyed at her sister for bringing this up. This was her trauma, her thing to deal with, not Waverly's. “You're supposed to be normal! I'm the crazy one, the one who gets in trouble for talking about demons and shit! Shut up and go back to sleep!”  
“But, Nonna...”

Once again Wynonna didn't let Waverly finish the sentence. She left the room slamming the door behind her. And all Waverly could do was stare at the closed door and sob, wondering why her sister didn't love her like she used to.

After that night Waverly promised herself two things.

Firstly, she wouldn't dare talk about demons with anyone ever again. She was a smart kid and knew people wouldn't believe her crazy stories. And it had become very clear that Wynonna didn't want to discuss the topic any further and the last thing Waverly wanted was to upset her sister again.

Secondly, she wouldn't let herself forget about the demons. She knew what she saw. She knew they were real. And one day she would do something about it, she would be stronger than Daddy and Willa were. She would be stronger than Wynonna, even. Wynonna could try and forget what happened all she wanted, but not Waverly. Waverly was determined to be the hero of the story, like the characters from her books.

But you see, childhood isn't easy for anyone, and the people your great-great-grandfather killed coming back from hell as revenants aren't the only demons you face as a kid. Not when you must go to school, too.

Waverly used to love school, the little angel. She was a great student because she loved learning new things. Her Aunt Gus would always praise her on how fast she learned to multiply. Of course, her favourite subject was English. Once a week they would pick a new book from the school library and more often than not she would convince her English teacher to let her pick two books, knowing she would finish the first one mid-week and would need another one to keep herself entertained. 

School would've been so much easier if it wasn't for the rest of the kids.

Waverly had always been a social kid. She had no trouble making friends and talking with any kid who was left alone during recess. She had a best friend, Chrissy, and they had been inseparable since preschool. But that changed one day...

Again, growing up is difficult for everyone, and when kids at school started being mean to Waverly, calling her names and saying how her sister was crazy, it was easier for Chrissy to distance herself from the problem. To distance herself from Waverly.

After a particularly bad day at school of being teased by Stephanie Jones, she arrived at her aunt and uncle's home with puffy eyes and tear-streaked cheeks. She prided herself in being a happy kid and making her aunt and uncle smile, so she was embarrassed, really, of arriving in such a state of despair. So, she did what any kid in her situation would. She hid. She ran to the back of the house, to Curtis' garden, and sat down between the tomato plants. And, there, she cried. Holding her knees close to her chest.

Uncle Curtis was in the kitchen when she saw her little niece running towards her plants. He was a smart, empathetic man and had a strong connection with Waverly. He knew something was wrong with the little girl and decided to give her a few minutes before going to check on her.

“Sweetie...” the soft voice called. Waverly raised her head and saw Uncle Curtis on one knee in front of her. His kind eyes were looking at her with compassion and that only made Waverly want to keep crying. “What's wrong?”  
“Nothing...” the girl sniffled, wiping her eyes and nose with her sleeve.  
“Here, honey, use this.” Curtis handed her a handkerchief with his initials embroidered on. Waverly took it with her quivering hand and observed it like a precious offer, like a treasure, and raised her eyes to her uncle's face in adoration. “You can keep it, too, if you'd like. Take it with you in case you ever need it.”  
“Thank you...” Waverly doubted for a second but enveloped her uncle in a tight hug, and he reciprocated it.   
“I came here to check on my tomatoes,” Curtis stated, even though what he really wanted was to check on the little girl. “Would you like to help me, angel? Check if there's any ripe tomato we can pick already...”  
“Yes!” Waverly replied excitedly. And for the first time since recess, she smiled a genuine smile, one that reached her eyes.

As the girl skipped and danced around the tomato plants, Curtis debated whether he should ask her about what had gotten her upset when she arrived from school. He didn't know what to do, he didn't have any kids of his own, no one prepared him to raise a child and deal with this kind of stuff. He knew how to grow tomatoes and how to handle the cattle, but little girls were a whole new ballgame. 

But no matter how different and difficult it would be, he knew he wanted to try his best to give little Waverly everything she deserved. To give his little angel a happy childhood.

“Look at that one, Uncle Curtis, it's huuuuge!” the girl smiled. Her smile could light up even the darkest day.  
“It is, darling, and it looks ready. Come bring it to the basket.” He waved her over and she smiled at him and picked the tomato. She smelled it and brought it to her Uncle. “Good job! I'm proud of you.”

Waverly stopped dead in her tracks, shocked. Her uncle was... proud of her? How? Why? She hadn't done anything special, anything out of the ordinary. Waverly felt the tears coming back to her eyes and shut them close as she fisted her hands.

“Honey, come here.” Curtis embraced the little girl and consoled her. “Everything will be okay, angel. Talk to me, please. Did something happen at school?”  
Waverly was sobbing, hiding her face in the crook of his uncle's neck.  
“Something happened with the other kids?” Waverly nodded.  
“Were they mean to you?” Waverly nodded again.  
“Did you tell your teacher?” 

Waverly didn't nod this time. Uncle Curtis swallow thickly, this was one of his biggest fears and he didn't really know how to help the little girl.

“They... They...” Waverly sniffled. “Stephanie... She called me... crazy... and other things...”  
“Oh, Waverly, honey.” He tried to help in a soft voice.  
But Waverly's sadness quickly turned into anger and she started speaking faster and faster. “I’m not crazy, Nonna isn’t crazy. They’re all just stupid. Stephanie is stupid and the boys are stupid too. And Chrissy is the stupidest of them all. I hate them and I hate school and I never want to go back there, please don’t make me go back to school,” she practically begged.

Deep down Waverly knew she would have to go back to school no matter what happened that day or how stupid everyone was. She just wanted to be normal again. She wanted Chrissy to be her friend again. She wanted Wynonna to love her again. So, she cried for the normalcy she had lost.

She had never cried about Daddy and Willa dying. Daddy would forget she had a third daughter half of the time, but that was better than the other half of the time he spent getting mad at anything Waverly did. And Willa… Willa was nothing like Wynonna. Willa never loved Waverly and Waverly never understood why. But she had always admired her bigger sister, so her rejection hurt even more than her dad’s.

Waverly Earp cried in front of her uncle and his beloved tomato plants. And Curtis wracked his brain searching for some old piece of advice hidden in some corner of his mind that could help his little niece.

“Want to know something cool, kid?” Curtis asked softly. After a while, Waverly seemed a bit calmer and maybe even receptive. “Did you know tomatoes aren’t vegetables? They’re fruits!”  
Waverly observed her uncle with a puzzled look. “Fruits?”  
“Weird, huh?” Curtis chuckled. “You would’ve never expected that. When we eat them in salads and stuff with other veggies you think ‘oh, yeah, tomatoes are veggies too’ but they aren’t. Tomatoes are sweet and acidic, they’re nothing like most vegetables. But they’re not like most fruits either, or would you use orange sauce on your pizza, huh, Waves?”  
“Ew, no!” The little girl chuckled.  
“These tomatoes remind me of you. You can be anything you want, there’s so much potential in you there are thousands of things you could achieve, same way you could cook thousands of recipes with a tomato.”  
“You think I’m a tomato?” Waverly giggled at the idea of being a tomato. Big, round, and red. But she knew her Uncle Curtis loved his tomatoes more than anything in this world. She longed to be loved that much by someone. “You love tomatoes!!” she exclaimed.  
“I do” Curtis replied with an honest smile. “But not nearly as much as I love you.”  
Waverly’s heart soared through the sky when she heard those words.  
“And I’m proud of you. I’m proud of the smart little girl you are. And I’m proud of the brilliant big girl you will grow up to be. You are an extraordinary kid, Waverly, don’t let what the mean kids say break your spirit. You have the biggest heart I know, never stop listening to it.”

Tears started welling up in Waverly’s eyes. Tears of joy. Because for the first time in forever someone really loved her and was proud of her and it was such an overwhelming feeling.

She wasn’t alone anymore. She would never have to worry about Daddy being mad at her and threatening her. She had someone who loved her. Who really loved her. Someone who was proud of her for just being herself. She had never felt happier in her entire life.

She felt invincible. She felt like it wouldn’t matter if Stephanie teased her again during recess. It wouldn’t matter if she was called names. It wouldn’t matter that demons were very much real and scary. None of that mattered because Waverly Earp had someone on her corner. She felt invincible.

“Uncle Curtis, I’m not a little girl anymore. I’m seven and a half.”

**Author's Note:**

> Again, anything you want to tell me you have the comments, and my twitter handle is @haught4kindness. <3


End file.
